Benefits December 28, 2001

Employee Recognition Programs Increase in Popularity

December 28, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Employee-recognition programs are becoming more common, and are likely to become even more so as cash-strapped employers are forced to explore new, low-cost ways to reward employees, according to consultants.
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According to a survey of 550 companies, released last summer by WorldatWork,

  • almost 90% of companies have recognition programs in place,
  • while 62% of the rest plan to implement them in the next 12 months

Despite layoffs, US employers still face a shortage of workers that will only get worse when the economy recovers, says Kay Sandvik Schmitke of WorldatWork.

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“An employee-recognition program is generally defined as something that is not part of an organization’s normal pay/compensation program, that is done to recognize special performance or special circumstances,” says Thomas Casey, a partner at Unifi Network.

Recognition can range from the purely symbolic, says Casey, such as publishing the employees’ pictures in the company newsletter and congratulating them for a job well done, to cash rewards that can go as high as $10,000, according to the WorldatWork survey.

Promoting loyalty and helping improve retention are some of the primary reasons why companies utilize recognition programs. In WorldatWork’s survey,

  • just over 90% of the sample reported that they use these programs as a means of improving company morale,
  • just under three-quarters said they did so to make employees feel a part of the company,
  • slightly less cited retention, and
  • almost half sought to promote loyalty 

Read the full story at A Job Well Done

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